


Falling For You

by pidebird



Series: Nygmobblepot Week 2017 Fics [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Roller Derby, Alternate Universe - Skating, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Relationship, might be mildly ooc, oswald and ed both like each other and don't know how to tell each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2018-12-31 22:16:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12142266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pidebird/pseuds/pidebird
Summary: Oswald works at a rollerskating rink, and Edward starts to show up to watch the roller derby matches every week.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Nygmobblepot Week 2017 - Day 2 - AU ( Roller Skating/High School )  
> This ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would be, so I’m going to upload it in two parts. I’m really enjoying writing it, and I hope that it is just as enjoyable to read! The next part should hopefully be uploaded on day seven.

Oswald wouldn’t say that he outright hated his job, but there were certainly times when he very greatly disliked it. It wasn’t a very difficult job, the pay was decent enough, and the night hours worked great with school, so he definitely wouldn’t consider quitting for something different, but like any other job, it had it’s ups and it’s downs. Working five nights a week at the rollerskating rink often forced Oswald to endure a lot of annoyances. Specifically, small children related annoyances.

For instance, Oswald, was currently crouched down on his knees in front of one of the various brightly flashing game machines that filled the small arcade area of the building, while a small child stood sobbing no more than a foot away from him. While the child rubbed his eyes and let out another loud cry, directly into his ear, Oswald growled to himself as he vainly attempted to yank out the wad of tickets that the child had somehow managed to shove into the coin slot of the machine. The tickets were too far into the slot for his fingers to grab onto completely, and his frustrations were growing quickly.

“I didn’t mean to break it, I promise,” The child’s words tumbled out unevenly and each one was punctuated by a breathless gasp as he continued to cry, with no sign of stopping anytime soon, “I didn’t mean to! Please don’t tell my mommy, mister!”

Oswald was only half listening to the child, and was instead actually trying to tune him out because he just kept repeating the same combination of phrases, none of which actually mattered to Oswald. The kid hadn’t broken the arcade machine, only jammed it, and even if Oswald had any idea who the kid’s mother was, there was no way he was going to try and get the mom to do anything about it. All that he cared about was getting the kid to stop crying so that he could get off the slightly sticky carpet and go back to doing the things he was actually getting paid to do. As the tickets slipped out of the grip of his fingertips yet again, Oswald’s hands curled into fists and he let out a frustrated groan before he turned to look at the kid.

“Alright, look, how many tickets is that?” He only waited a second for the child to answer, and when he didn’t immediately respond Oswald turned back to the machine, one hand going down to his hip to unclip the ring of keys that were latched to his belt loop. The child continued to mumble and weep, but his loud sobs had subsided slightly as he curiously watched as Oswald hastily unlocked the front panel of the machine.

Once the panel was open, Oswald swung it back and reached into the machine so he could grab onto the end of the roll of tickets inside. He pulled on it so that a sizable length of tickets unraveled onto the floor in front of him, before ripping them away from the rest of the roll. He turned back to the child and thrust the tickets towards him, tone expressing his frustration over the whole ordeal as he stated, “Here, please, just take these and go away. And don’t ever shove tickets where coins go.”

The child’s eyes lit up instantly, and he ceased crying completely as he accepted the gifted tickets. He didn’t say anything else, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, and only nodded at Oswald briefly before he turned away and ran off with the tickets trailing off behind him. Oswald almost let out a relieved sigh, until he heard the sound of clapping behind him.

“Very nicely done, Ozzy! Although, I’m pretty sure that was way more tickets than he had before.” Oswald quickly turned to look over his shoulder, his eyes landing immediately on his coworker, Ivy, standing a few feet away with an amused grin on her face. He glared at her and turned back towards the machine so that he could quickly shut and lock the panel again, as she skated leisurely over to his side. “He didn’t have any more than ten, which is still pretty impressive, considering he managed to get all of them in there, huh?”

“You saw him do this? And you didn’t stop him?” Oswald asked incredulously as he pushed himself up off of the floor, leaning slightly against the machine to steady himself on his skates as he faced Ivy again, still glaring. 

“I saw him in passing, but I had to go take care of the food counter because Vic needed to go take a break.” Ivy replied with a shrug as she crossed her arms casually, before she smirked and jabbed Oswald in the arm with her elbow as she continued teasingly, “Besides, it looks like you managed to sort things out on your own.”

“Of course. The coin slot is still jammed, so I haven’t exactly sorted things out just yet, Ivy, so if you could just tell me what you need that’d be great.” Oswald sighed as he clipped his keyring back onto his pants and his expression softened slightly as he looked at Ivy. She was probably his best friend, no matter how trying she could sometimes be, and he was rarely ever really upset with her. She was also two grades younger than him, and they didn’t have any classes together, meaning the only time they were really ever able to hang out was whenever they were at work together, so he excused most of her antics. 

“I need you to go cover for Vic, because he still hasn’t come back from his break and both of the roller derby groups just showed up.” Ivy replied easily, pointing over her shoulder with one thumb, towards the eating area. As if on cue, Oswald watched a large group of people all begin to accumulate near the food counter, all loudly talking amongst each other and sitting down in clumps at the booths and tables.

“Ugh, where is Fries? And why can’t you go take care of it? You’re way better with them than I am.” Oswald groaned, raising one hand up to brush his bangs away from his eyes while he quickly looked between Ivy and the derby groups. Ivy held her own hand up to Oswald’s face in quick response, twiddling her fingers in front of his eyes before she spoke in a smug tone of voice.

“Because, Ozzy my dear, I have long nails and I can actually get those tickets out of the coin slot! And because I really don’t want to handle all of their orders. The last time I tried, I messed most of it up. They were pretty mad at me.” Ivy smiled as she said this, and Oswald knew that she probably didn’t really care. Ivy could be very hardworking when she felt like it, but if she wasn’t working behind the prize counter or the dj booth, she wasn’t very interested in putting a lot of effort into anything.

“Fine. It’s probably safer for everyone’s jobs if I go take care of it anyways.” Oswald finally sighed and pushed himself away from the edge of the game machine. The derby girls were all reasonably nice, but before matches they were always pretty fired up, and Oswald wasn’t ever very excited for their Friday night appearances, but if Victor wasn’t around he was probably the next best person to serve them.

“Yes! Thanks so much, Ozzy! Don’t worry, I’ll owe you one.” Ivy exclaimed as she clapped her hands together, before she patted his arm gratefully and crouched down in front of the game machine so she could begin unjamming the coin slot. Oswald just nodded in acknowledgement, appreciating her promise for a favor, before he began to skate unenthusiastically over towards the food counter.

Most of the booths and tables were filled up with people, no doubt either girls actually part of the two derby teams that would be competing tonight, or friends who came in order to show their support. If Oswald remembered correctly, this was one of the biggest matches in a while. The Gotham City Sirens were the “home” team for this skating rink, and they came every Friday night, either for some practice or to actually participate in matches. Oswald wasn’t really familiar with any of the other teams in the area, but from what he could gather with his limited roller derby knowledge, the Sirens seemed to be a pretty kickass team.

“Oswald? I had no idea you worked here!” Oswald hadn’t been paying too much attention to the people who were currently lined up to order food as he skated behind the food counter, focusing first on checking that the ovens were on, so he was surprised when he heard a familiar voice call out to him. When he looked up and met eyes with Edward Nygma, his own eyes widened slightly, and if he hadn’t already been leaning against the counter, he would have stumbled on his skates.

“Edward? What are you doing here?” Oswald’s voice was unsteady when he spoke, almost stuttering, as he stood up slightly straighter and he ran a hand absent-mindedly through his hair. Oswald had certainly expected to see people he knew from school at the skating rink, and almost every day he did see familiar faces skating past him, but he had never even considered that he might run into Edward.

They were both seniors, and they had occasionally shared classes as they went through high school, but Oswald liked to believe that they were pretty good friends, though they hadn’t ever hung out together outside of school hours since their sophomore year. Whenever they spoke now, it usually wasn’t any more personal than conversations about homework were. Most of this was probably thanks to the fact that Oswald had developed a crush on Edward sometime over the last few years, and he was too scared of ruining their casual friendship by acting on it.

“Barbara convinced me to come watch the roller derby match. Apparently this one’s a pretty big deal,” Edward explained quickly, grinning happily at Oswald as he continued in a sincere, friendly tone, “But it’s a really nice surprise to see you here! Barbara didn’t even mention that you worked here.”

Oswald smiled back at Edward, shifting slightly on his skates and still trying to recollect himself. He wasn’t really surprised that Barbara hadn’t said anything, seeing as they didn’t really talk a lot whenever she came in with the rest of the derby team. They had sort of had a falling out a while ago, but Oswald wasn’t particularly bothered by it. Before he could respond to Edward again, Barbara herself came rolling over to his side, already in her skates, and she steadied herself by grabbing onto Ed’s shoulder.

“Hey Eddie, Ozzy,” Barbara smiled as she greeted the two of them, though she quickly turned her attention away from Oswald to instead look at Edward, “If you haven’t ordered yet, would you get Tabby and I some pizza? We’re gonna go warm up on the rink, so just put it on our table, please.” Edward nodded and agreed to her request quickly, and Barbara thanked him before skating over towards the rink without a second glance back towards them.

“Alright, well it looks like I’ll definitely order two slices of pizza,” Edward stated after he watched Barbara skate away, and he turned back to Oswald, who nodded quickly in acknowledgement before Ed continued, eyes moving up to scan the brightly lit menu sign above Oswald, “And I’m not really sure what else. Mm… What would you suggest?”

“Oh, well, besides flavor, most of this stuff is pretty much the same in terms of heartburn.” Oswald joked good-naturedly, and he felt his cheeks heat up slightly as Edward laughed at his joke, before he drummed his fingers on the countertop and continued, more seriously, “The nachos are alright if you eat them quick enough, but if you wait too long the cheese just turns into plastic, and the pizza is pretty much just grease soaked bread. So, that being said, maybe a hotdog?”

“A hotdog it is, then. And drinks; three cokes, one for me, two for Barbara and Tabitha.” Edward confidently agreed to Oswald’s suggestion and as he finished placing his order. Oswald nodded and while Edward pulled some money out of his pocket to pay for everything, Oswald quickly plated everything and put together the drinks. Once everything had been exchanged, Ed managed to carefully pick up everything so that he wouldn’t accidentally drop anything, and he grinned at Oswald again. “Thanks, Oswald. I plan on coming back for the next match, so I hope to see you again next week.”

“That’s great, I’ll definitely be here.” Oswald replied genially, smiling uncontrollably at the prospect of Ed wanting to talk to him more often, and he waved quickly towards him as Edward turned away so he could walk over towards a booth. He continued staring after Edward for a few more moments of silence, his lips pulled into a grin as he lost himself in his thoughts, before the next person in line coughed to get his attention again.

…

Four weeks later, the final matches of the roller derby season were quickly approaching, with the Sirens proudly leading in wins. Oswald wasn’t completely sure if the matches were becoming more and more tense as the last few came around, or if they had always been this way and he was only just noticing now that he had a reason to pay attention to them, with Edward showing up to watch them every week. Regardless of whichever it was, Oswald was surprised by how entertaining he actually found the sport, and every Friday he found himself not only eager to see Edward again, but also interested in the derby matches.

At the moment, that’s exactly what he was doing while he was stuck standing behind the prize counter located between the arcade area and the skating floor. His job for the next hour or so was to take tickets from children, in exchange for tiny plastic skateboards, sticky hand things, or festively shaped pencil erasers. It wasn’t at all very exciting, but he still immensely preferred it to working behind the food counter. The arcade was a very well lit area, and the skating rink was normally pretty dark, besides the various multicolored light fixtures above it, so the prize counter being positioned right between the two made for some very comfortably dim atmospheric lighting. His shift was made even more comfortable by how slow things had been so far, with the number of children who had come to exchange tickets remaining low enough to count on his fingers.

It was sort of out of place, considering Fridays were usually one of the busiest nights of the week, and it left Oswald with nothing to do but waste time until the derby groups showed up. He could potentially go see what his other coworkers were doing and if they needed any help, but he decided to instead sit down against the wall behind the counter and idly check his phone. Unfortunately, this didn’t serve as a very good distraction, as Oswald had systematically gone through all of his social media accounts to check for any important updates or messages in about ten minutes, only to find out that there wasn’t anything new or interesting going on with any of his friends. When a distraction to his boredom finally came, he was about halfway through reading a lengthy Wikipedia page.

“Hey, Oz.” As Victor Fries spoke, he leaned over the prize counter and pounded his fist a couple of times on the glass in order to get Oswald’s attention. His tone was as unenthused as it normally was, and his expression successfully portrayed this, even as he obnoxiously sucked on the straw of his slushee. Oswald reluctantly put his phone in his pocket before he looked up at him expectantly, silently waiting for him to continue. Victor stared right back at him while he continued to loudly drink his blue slush for a few more seconds, until he finally let the straw fall from his mouth so he could talk again. “Someone’s looking for you.”

“Shouldn’t you be working the food counter? Or are you on another one of your impossibly long breaks again, Victor?” Oswald asked in a slightly taunting tone, mostly just to try to get some sort of emotional reaction out of the other boy, and he sighed when Victor’s only immediate response was to shrug his shoulders. “Whatever. Who’s looking for me? Did Ivy lose her keys to the skate closet again?”

“Nope. Some guy in glasses.Tall,” Victor took a moment to pause as he used his free hand to gesture about the person’s height, just shorter than his own height, “He said you guys were friends.” As Victor vaguely described the person, Oswald’s eyes widened as he instantly pictured Edward, and he pushed himself forwards so that he was on his knees and moving closer to the prize counter while Victor watched him with mild interest, idly drinking more of his slushee again.

“Wait, what’s his name? Edward? Why didn’t you just say that, where is—?” Oswald began talking quickly as he leaned against the prize counter, being just tall enough to but his arms and his chin up on top of the glass right beside the still visibly disinterested Victor, until he noticed Edward standing a few feet away from the corner of his eye, silently watching them talk with an amused expression. Oswald immediately felt his face heat up in embarrassment and he scrambled to pull himself up into a standing position. Once he wasn’t on his knees behind the counter, he forced a smile and waved politely at Edward, before he turned his attention back to Victor. Oswald glared and leaned into him so that he could try to hide what he was saying to his coworker as he spoke to him in a hushed, annoyed tone. “Victor, go back to work, please.”

Victor continued to very obnoxiously suck on his straw as Oswald spoke to him again, and his lips curled up into an entertained smirk as he shrugged his shoulders, before he pushed himself away from the counter and turned around to walk past Edward and back towards the food counter. Oswald had finally managed to get an expressive reaction from the cold boy, and he couldn’t even feel satisfied with it because of the circumstances. He took a deep breath as he watched Victor walk away, which he exhaled slowly through his nose, before he made eye contact with Edward again as the boy approached the prize counter.

“Hello, Oswald! I hope that I didn’t interrupt you, if you’re busy with work.” Edward grinned as he greeted him, coming to a stop just in front of Oswald so that he could comfortably rest his hands on top of the counter. He drummed his fingertips gently against the glass while he spoke, and Oswald couldn’t help but smile as he looked at the other boy. The bright green LED lights that were inside of the counter, to illuminate the prizes inside, reflected on the lenses of his glasses and lit him from beneath, the color very nicely suiting Edward and momentarily captivating Oswald.

“Busy?” Oswald repeated the word, his tone slightly incredulous, before he laughed lightly and continued. “Oh, no, I’ve just been sitting here waiting for the derby groups to show up. Are the Sirens here already? I thought it was still awhile until the match time, usually someone comes to get me when everyone gets here.” While he explained, he leaned forwards enough to place his own hands on the counter, almost between Edward’s, while still being careful to not place them too close to them. His eyes remained down on their hands as he waited for Edward to respond, nonchalantly picking at the black nail polish that was beginning to chip on a few of his fingernails.

“Well, as far as I know, none of The Sirens are here yet, so I hope it’s okay if I hang out with you until Barbara arrives. I think she’s carpooling with Tabitha and Butch.” Edward continued to softly tap his fingers in a simple rhythmic pattern atop the glass of the prize counter as he informed Oswald of the situation. Oswald closely watched their hands for another second, before his gaze quickly moved up to the other boy’s face, and he saw that Edward’s own eyes were also focused down at their hands, and his smile grew.

“Of course! Right now, all I have to do is exchange tickets for prizes, but if things continue to be as slow as they’ve been, I don’t think I’ll have much to do. I’ll appreciate the company.” His tone clearly expressed his happiness at the prospect of being able to spend more time with Edward. While the derby matches were happening they got to talk for a little bit, but Oswald was usually pretty busy with helping his coworkers take care of all of the other people that arrived to spectate, so having the time to actually interact with Edward while things were slow was pretty exciting, and he was even more excited that Edward seemed to want to hang out with him just as much.

“Oh good,” Edward let out one short, breathy laugh and his grin widened as he continued, “Now then, Mr. Prize Man, what can you give me for these?” He slid one of his hands off off the glass as he asked the question, and he took a moment to dig something out of his pocket. When his hand returned to the counter, he was holding a very large stack of arcade tickets between his thumb and forefinger. The stack was two tickets wide and probably a few inches tall if you were to stand it up, though Edward was firmly holding it in order to keep the stack tightly together. “Before I started looking for you, I decided ti play a game of skeeball.”

Oswald looked at the tickets incredulously, in disbelief that Edward had somehow gotten them all with just one game of skeeball, and he eagerly took them as the boy offered them to him, interested to see the exact number. Once he had the stack, he let it unfold into one very long chain of tickets before he inserted the end into the ticket counting machine beside the counter. As the machine steadily pulled in each ticket, the number displayed on the digital counter continued to rise, and Oswald turned to look at Edward again, his wide eyed expression portraying his surprise. “You said you played just one game? You’ve got almost fifty tickets here, Ed.”

“I don’t know, I guess I’m pretty good at skee ball.” Upon being questioned about it, Edward looked both smug and slightly sheepish but his grin remained on his features. His hand moved up instinctively so that he could fiddle with his glasses for a second while he spoke, and Oswald thought it was incredibly endearing. Edward eventually cleared his throat before he let his hand fall back down to the counter, quickly followed by his gaze as he crouched down in front of it so that he could look at all of the prizes hidden behind the glass. “So, Oswald, what are my options?”

“Oh, right. Well, fifty tickets can get you pretty much everything down here,” Oswald leaned further forwards over the counter so that he was on his toes and bent over enough to comfortably point out some of the items, “There’s some pens that are kind of cool.” None of the prizes were particularly amazing, and all of them were just cheap toys and trinkets, but Edward didn’t seem to care about their quality as Oswald watched the other boy’s eyes skim over each and every option with considerable interest.

After a few minutes, Edward had picked out a pretty varied selection of prizes. A couple glowstick bracelets, a mood ring, some erasers shaped like flowers, and a few different pieces of candy all sat in a pile atop the glass countertop beside Oswald as the boy watched Edward continue to debate over what he wanted to spend his remaining tickets on. Eventually, Edward pointed at the glass excitedly and he announced loudly, “Oh, I definitely want some of those dinosaurs. As many as I can get with the rest of my tickets.”

Oswald laughed, good naturedly, at how excited Edward seemed to be about the little plastic dinosaurs while he reached down under the glass of the counter so that he could grab the container that the dinosaurs were stored in and place it on the countertop. Edward took another second to look at all of the prizes displayed, before he stood up straight again to watch as Oswald picked out five plastic dinosaurs, making sure that they were all different. Once he was done, Oswald put the container back onto it’s shelf inside of the counter before he smirked at Edward and spoke in a slightly teasing tone, “Technically, you only had enough for four dinosaurs, but I gave you an extra one because we’re friends.”

“Oswald, that’s just criminal.” Edward laughed as he replied while he looked at all of the prizes that he’d chosen. He slipped the mood ring onto the ring finger of his right hand, and it fit pretty well, before he picked up the erasers and candy so that he could put them into one of his pants pockets. He picked up the plastic dinosaurs next, and he grinned to himself as he took a few seconds to examine the not very anatomically accurate toys, before he put them away into a different pocket. As he did, he leaned forwards towards Oswald a little bit and winked playfully at him as he added, “Though, I guess that makes us partners in crime, right?”

Oswald was pretty sure that Edward had just flirted with him, and he felt his face begin to heat up with flush as he tried to come up with what to say in response. He was thankful that the only lighting provided at the counter was from the bright green LEDs, hopefully masking his blush. After a few seconds of stammering awkwardly, Oswald just nodded his head in agreement and let out a brief laugh. Edward continued to smile at him without any judgement, before he glanced down towards the counter once again. He fiddled with the two glowstick bracelets for a second, before he cracked both of them and they immediately began to glow.

“Here, this one’s purple,” Edward waved the bracelets around for a moment to further activate and distribute the glowing liquid inside, before he handed one of them to Oswald, his tone still playful and his expression amused, “Now everyone will know we’re partners because we’ll both be wearing these.” Oswald grinned back and he held out his hand in order to take the offered bracelet, though before he could actually take it, Edward wrapped it around his left wrist and fastened it with the small plastic piece for him.

“Thanks. I can put yours on for you, if you want me to.” Oswald shook his wrist gently once Edward had secured the bracelet around it, just to momentarily admire it’s bright purple glow. When Edward nodded in response to his offer, Oswald’s grin widened slightly and he took Edward’s bracelet, a very bright, vivid green, so that he could wrap it similarly around Edward’s right wrist once the other boy had held it out towards him. As he finished securing the glow stick bracelet around his wrist, Oswald’s hands lingered momentarily in their place, his fingertips gently resting against Edward’s arm, and he was about to say something before he was interrupted.

“Eddie! Ozzy!” Barbara called from the entrance, which was practically on the other side of the skating rink. Her voice was easily recognizable, even over all of the people talking and the music playing from the rink, and both boys immediately turned their heads to look at her. She was quickly walking towards them, with Tabitha and Butch trailing along behind her, looking far less enthusiastic about talking with them, as the three approached the prize counter. Oswald had pulled his hands away from Edward’s arm almost immediately after Barbara had called out to them, but as she came to a stop beside them, leaning her hip against the glass of the counter, her eyes flashed between the two of them and she gave them a knowing smirk and a slightly cocked brow. “Mm, I’m glad you two get to hang out together more often now. I didn’t interrupt anything important, did I?”

“Not at all, we were just talking. About nothing.” Oswald answered Barbara hurriedly, without really thinking about his response, and his words came across as pretty obviously flustered. As he finished his vague reply, he glanced over towards Edward, who made brief eye contact with him as he nodded in agreement with his explanation. It was reassuring, and Oswald wasn’t even sure why he was so nervous right now in the first place. Barbara wouldn’t have had any way to know that they had sort of been flirting, and even if she did somehow figure out that he liked Edward in a more than platonic way, he didn’t think she would have any reason to tell Edward about it. If anything, Oswald was pretty hopeful that Edward felt similarly, and he smiled softly to himself as he turned his attention back towards Barbara.

“Well, anyways, Tabby and I are going to go get our skates on. I’m pretty sure everyone is just starting to show up if you want to come mingle, Eddie.” Barbara pursed her lips slightly, in an expression of thought, but she quickly replaced it with her more familiar smug grin as she gestured behind her towards Tabitha and Butch while she spoke. Butch looked exceptionally bored with the situation, and Oswald was actually mildly surprised that the girls had even managed to get him to come, considering he usually opted out of spectating the derby matches. Meanwhile, Tabitha had been staring at Oswald for most of the conversation with an expression that was nearly unreadable, though it didn’t really bother him.

“The match starts in about twenty minutes and I reserved us a table to put all of our stuff at when I got here, so we should probably go take care of that.” Edward replied to Barbara’s suggestion with a casual tone and he pointed off towards the food counter where all of the booths and tables were as he spoke, still smiling politely. Barbara nodded curtly and after a second she turned around to begin walking towards that general direction, with Tabitha and Butch following cooperatively. Edward turned back to face Oswald fully again and his smile widened slightly, his expression more genuinely happy as he waved at the other boy. “Oswald, I’m sure I’ll be seeing you later.”

“Right. See you later, Ed.” Oswald returned the jovial smile and he raised his hand up to wave back at Edward, his bracelet shifting around his wrist as he did. When Edward turned around after another moment so that he could catch up to Barbara and the others, Oswald leaned forwards onto the counter, supporting himself on his elbows and resting his chin atop his palms, and he watched Edward leave with a soft grin still playing at the corners of his lips. Once they had disappeared around the corner by the food counter, Oswald took notice of the growing number of people hanging around that area and he recognized that Barbara had been right about the rest of the derby team groups showing up.

After a few more drawn out seconds of wistfully staring off towards the crowd that had formed at the food counter, no doubt beginning to overwhelm Victor with their orders, Oswald sighed and stood back up from the prize counter. Without really thinking about it, Oswald used his opposite hand to spin his bracelet a few times, smiling to himself. He supposed it was time to go help out his coworkers, and as he moved out from behind the counter, he held onto the idea of possibly getting to hang out with Edward again after the match.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edward doesn’t know how to skate, and Oswald offers to teach him how.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nygmobblepot Week 2017 - Day 2 - AU ( Roller Skating/High School )  
> Sorry I’m uploading this so late after the week ended, but this got way longer than I had planned. The ending is a little bit abrupt, mostly because I was just trying to get at a decent stopping point, but I hope you enjoy it!

The roller derby match had lasted for just over an hour, and from how enthusiastically the crowd had cheered as they watched, it had proven to be a pretty intense one. Oswald managed to catch a few minutes of the match every once in a while, in between helping Victor take care of all of the food orders and then actually serving the orders, but he couldn’t really watch for long enough to fully grasp how well the game was going, or whether or not it was leaning in The Sirens’ favor. He also hadn’t been able to see Edward anywhere as he worked around the food counter, leading him to presume that Edward was among the people crowding right beside the rink in order to watch the match from up close.

Once the match had officially ended, people slowly began to get up and leave in small groups, after the derby girls had all left the rink, and Oswald quickly began to wipe down all of the tables and booths around the food counter. The rink closed early every Friday night, usually right after the matches, so that everything could be cleaned and taken care of before the early opening on Saturday, and Oswald was almost always one of the two people who closed the rink. As more people began to leave and the food area completely cleared out, Victor shut down all of the appliances and began cleaning everything that needed it, though still not very enthusiastically, so that he could go home as quickly as possible. Oswald was busy, nearly done with wiping down all of the tables, when he heard Edward call his name, immediately pulling his attention away from his task.

“Oswald!” Edward had been walking back from the skating rink with Barbara, Tabitha, and Butch, and he increased his pace and walked ahead of them so that he could hurry over to Oswald. A grin immediately rose to his features as he approached the other boy, and he continued to speak as soon as he came to a stop beside him. His tone clearly expressed his apparent good mood, though he seemed almost bashful as he spoke, one hand moving up so he could run his fingers absent-mindedly through his hair. “How has your shift been? I’m glad that it hasn’t ended yet, I was really hoping to see you again after the match.”

“Really? I was hoping to be able to talk again, too,” Oswald grinned sincerely as he began to reply, his tone bubbling with excitement, “My shift has been busy, but ultimately fine. I have to close tonight, so hopefully things will continue to go smoothly.” As Oswald continued to talk, Edward listened and he seemed like he was just about to say something important in response, but before he could, Barbara arrived beside Edward in order to butt into their conversation again, not hesitating to reach up and wrap her arm around the taller boy’s shoulders in form of a friendly greeting.

“What are you two over here chatting about—How great that match was?” Barbara’s tone was light and she grinned contently as she spoke, her bright eyes widening slightly as she boastfully answered her own question for them, “Oh, I know, right? That was awesome, we slaughtered the other team. What do you say, Tabby?” She batted her eyelashes animatedly a few times as she lolled her head to the side so she could look over to Tabitha, who was standing a foot away beside Butch, who had apparently been suckered into carrying both of their bags for them.

“Yeah, we were pretty killer, Babs. You were right about the formation pattern, their jammer had no idea how to get through us.” Tabitha crossed her arms and shifted her weight onto one leg as she replied, a sly smile coming to her lips, just barely noticeable. She tried to seem as harsh and stoic as possible around people she didn’t like, which qualified as pretty much anyone besides Barbara and Butch, though sometimes she let slight emotions show if she was in a decent mood. Beside her, Butch nodded his head in a very loose show of support for the two girls, though he still seemed like he’d rather be somewhere else at the moment.

“Well, congratulations on your evidently well-deserved win. I presume that you’re the team leader then, Barbara?” Oswald continued to smile, though not quite as sincerely as he had been when he was just talking with Edward, while he politely continued the conversation. He wasn’t particularly interested in learning about her place on the team, but he figured it would be nice to ask about it anyways. From what Oswald had learned about Barbara from their limited interactions, whether at the skating rink or at school, it was pretty clear that she liked being in charge of things, so he thought it was a safe assumption.

“Ah—Technically, yes. She’s the team pivot, so she strategizes, but she could also be a jammer. Tabitha is the other jammer, who could also technically be the pivot, so that kind of means—” Edward was quick to begin answering Oswald’s question, prefacing his explanation with a short noise of enthusiasm. He had seemingly become fairly knowledgeable about roller derby, after watching so many games, and probably so that he could indulge Barbara in her own passion for the sport. Barbara and Oswald turned their eyes back to the taller boy as he spoke, though he was cut off before he could get too far into his explanation.

“It’s a team sport, but Barbara and I are both leaders.” Tabitha’s tone was louder than it had been, and it held a stern edge in order to get Edward to stop talking, not wanting to sit there waiting for Edward to finish giving his long-winded informational dump. Edward’s expression fell slightly and he shot Tabitha an almost unreadable glare, though he did remain quiet after she had finished talking. Barbara sent a brief look towards Tabitha as well, though it was more of a neutral glance than anything, before she turned her head back towards Edward with a smile.

“Yes, and as leader, I say we’re going out to celebrate! You know, you’re welcome to join us, Ozzy, we won’t bite.” Her tone was filled with elation as she made her announcement to the two boys, contrasting dramatically with how mildly threatening Tabitha was. As she mentioned Oswald, she quickly stepped closer to him, dragging Edward over with her, so that she could firmly wrap her arm around his neck as well. Barbara was practically hanging from the both of the boys now, and she affectionately squeezed them for a few seconds as she waited for a response.

“Oh, let me assure you that I’d just love to go,” Oswald’s tone remained polite, though with a sense of false sadness as he continued, “But, unfortunately, I’ll have to refuse. I’m closing the rink tonight, so I’ll be here cleaning for a while longer.” He subtly tried to pull out of Barbara’s hold on him for a moment, and after a few more seconds of squeezing him, she relented her grip and he stumbled away from her. She was a little bit too hands-on for his taste, and sometimes he was pretty sure that she knew this, and that she did it just to tease him.

“Aw, what a shame. One of Butch’s football friends is throwing a party at his house, so I’d say you aren’t missing out on anything too exciting. Though, I think I did hear there’s gonna be alcohol.” Barbara began her reply with a melodramatic sigh of disappointment, though her jovial grin remained across her features while she continued to talk. From the way she spoke of the party, it was clear that she wasn’t actually that thrilled to go hang out at the party either, but she was known for being good with people, so she would no doubt make it seem like she enjoyed it. She was quiet for a second as she thought to herself, before her eyes moved up to Edward again and she patted him on the chest before addressing him, “That being said, we should probably get going, Nygma.”

“Actually, Barbara,” Edward had also managed to slip out from under Barbara’s arm and he laughed briefly as he moved to stand closer to Oswald, “I was going to stay here with Oswald and help him close the rink.” He swayed slightly on his feet as he informed Barbara of his plan, gesturing loosely with his hands. After he finished his explanation, he turned on his heel so he could look at Oswald again, and quietly add, “If that’s alright with you, Oswald.”

“Of course, I would love for you to stay!” Oswald was quick to respond, and he realized after he finished talking, that he may have sounded just a little bit too eager, though Edward just smiled and turned back to look at Barbara again. He hadn’t been expecting Edward to stay for long after the match, let alone want to stay with him while he closed the rink, but he definitely wasn’t opposed to the idea. Oswald was actually immediately excited to get to have time to actually talk with Edward, and without Barbara around to cut into every conversation they had.

“Really? Well, okay, suit yourself, Eddie.” Barbara gave them both a slightly suspicious look, with her lips pursed and her brow raised, before she shrugged her shoulders and her expression fell to a much more pleasant one. As she finished speaking, she put her hands on her hips, jutting one hip out as she shifted her weight onto one leg. After a moment, her smile pulled into a mischievous smirk and she quickly added, in an obviously teasing tone, “You two lovebirds have fun, alright?”

Not waiting for a reaction from either of the boys, Barbara promptly turned around and began walking towards the exit, waving lazily at them with one hand from over her shoulder. Butch grinned at them and waved politely goodbye, though he was obviously trying to stifle his growing desire to laugh, before Tabitha, who was smirking subtly, grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away with her so they could follow Barbara. Oswald had felt his face heat up with flush almost instantaneously after Barbara’s parting words, and when he turned to look at Edward, the decently bright lighting of the food area allowed him to see that the boy’s cheeks were also slightly reddened.

“Did she say love—” Oswald remained silent for a few more seconds, just looking up at Edward while he kept his eyes towards the exit, before he finally attempted to break the silence. He hadn’t exactly intended to bring up the teasing comment at first, but when he opened his mouth he couldn’t think of anything else to say. Edward’s eyes widened slightly when he turned his head to the side so he could look at Oswald’s face, as if he had been lost in thought for a moment, and he quickly interrupted him.

“Don’t listen to her, she’s just trying to tease us. You know, friendly joking and all.” Edward’s tone was rushed when he began, though he ended his sentence by clearing his throat and laughing awkwardly. As he quieted down again, he clasped his hands together loosely in front of himself, wringing them together briefly as he thought for another few seconds, before he spoke again, trying to change the subject, “Anyways, thank you for letting me stay. House parties aren’t really my thing. What all do you have to do tonight?”

Oswald smiled softly at Edward as he watched him speak while trying to seem unaffected by Barbara’s teasing, and he laughed with Edward, trying to reassure him without actually saying anything about it. When Edward tried to not-so-subtly change the subject, Oswald was more than willing to go along with it, not wanting to make the situation any more awkward than it had already become. “Well, I’ve got to clean off any counters or ledges, pick up any trash around the building, and then lock up everything. It shouldn’t be that bad, you don’t have to help me if you don’t want to, Ed.”

Edward smiled genuinely back at him as he explained everything to him, and he was just about to respond, when the two heard the sound of someone coming up from behind them. Without really thinking about it, both boys turned around together, only to see that the person hurrying over towards them was Ivy. Her skates were off already, and she had her bag thrown casually over one of her shoulders as she walked, her red hair bouncing slightly with each step. She grinned at them as she continued to approach, and her pace increased until she could come to a stop right in front of them.

“Hey, Ozzy! And you must be Ed Nygma?” Ivy greeted them quickly, and she perked up slightly after she turned her attention entirely onto Edward. As she swiftly looked him up and down, she held her right hand out, and after a second of hesitation, Ed politely shook it. She smiled wider, and her tone expressed her excitement as she began to speak again without thinking about her words. “It’s really great to finally meet you, Oswald talks about you all the time! He said you were, but I still didn’t expect you to be so handsome—”

“Ivy, please!” Oswald’s tone was loud and rushed as he tried to get Ivy to stop talking as quickly as he could, before she could say anything too embarrassing in front of Edward. She had already said way more than Oswald would have ever preferred, but if he knew Ivy, he knew that she could have definitely taken things even further. Ivy had the tendency to talk without properly considering the pros and cons of everything she said, though she didn’t always mean to do it, and right now she was giving him an apologetic look. He was still mildly annoyed, but he just tried to avoid directly addressing the problem and he instead sighed before asking, “What do you want?”

“Oh, right, sorry! I just wanted to come see if you were alright with closing by yourself tonight. I’ve got something I really should take care of tonight, but I think I can stay if you need me to.” Ivy shifted on her feet so that she was facing slightly more towards Oswald, and she gestured with both of her hands by her sides as she took a moment to explain herself. She smiled as she spoke, an expression that was very familiar to Oswald by now after working with her for a while.

“What? Where did Victor go?” Oswald’s tone was more confused than it was upset, and he intentionally tried to keep it that way as he asked for more clarification. He felt as though he had just seen Victor a little bit ago, and as he waited for Ivy to respond, he looked around the food area from where he was standing, just to confirm that the other boy wasn’t there anymore. He was so quiet most of the time that he could just slip in and out of the building without anyone noticing, if he wanted to, and he used this to his advantage far too often whenever he wanted to go on break. It was annoying, but Victor was also really great at working the food counter, so no one could really complain too much about it.

“Hm… He left a few minutes ago, I think he mentioned something about a date with Nora tonight. So, does that mean you want me to stay?” One of Ivy’s hands came up to her face so she could gently tap her index finger on her chin while she thought, before she let it fall back down to her side when she answered Oswald’s questions. After she had asked her own follow-up question, she swayed gently on her feet while she waited patiently for Oswald’s reply.

Oswald chewed at the inside of his lower lip for a few seconds as he stared at Ivy and thought over everything she had said. Though she was a considerably leisurely worker, Ivy worked a lot and she had a shift nearly every day, with her hours nearly adding up enough to rival Oswald’s own. The last time she had taken a day off or left early this year was when she had caught the stomach flu, and with Edward around to keep him company, Oswald ultimately decided that he wouldn’t be too troubled if he had to close up on his own. “No, it’s fine, you can go. I just wish anyone would give me some sort of notice before they were already right about to leave.”

“Thanks a bunch, Oz! I promise, from now on, I'll try to tell you in advance whenever I have to leave. I’ll owe you!” Ivy bounced a couple of times on the heels of her feet as she thanked Oswald, and her smile widened to go along with her overall jovial expression. At this point, Ivy owed Oswald a number of favors for times he had covered for her or complied to her requests, and he fully intended on using these owed favors if the need ever arose, but he didn’t foresee ever needing that much help from her any time soon, and he was fine with that. She readjusted the position of her bag’s strap over her shoulder for a moment, before she waved at them with her free hand, and as she began to walk towards the exit she called back “Bye, Edward! Bye, Oswald!”

“She seems charming.” Edward was grinning in amusement when Oswald looked back up at him again, and his smile only widened smugly when he faced Oswald fully once again and he continued, his tone only slightly toying, “So, would you like my help now?”

“You know, I think I would very much appreciate your help now, Ed.” The corner’s of Oswald’s lips twitched into a slight smile as he considered Edward’s light-heartedly teasing question, and he nodded his head curtly as he laughed. Oswald laughed again as he finished responding, and his grin grew as he absent-mindedly raised one of his hands up to loosely run his fingers through his hair. He wasn’t actually expecting Edward to help him clean the skating rink or anything, and he would just be happy talking to him for a while, and from the way Edward was smiling back at him, Edward felt similarly.

…

After about an hour, the two boys had managed to clean off any surfaces in the food or arcade area that needed to be cleaned, and they had picked up any garbage or forgotten items that had been left behind in those areas as well. Oswald did most of the work, not wanting to make Edward feel obliged to help him since he had stayed behind with him, though Ed continued to insist that it wasn’t any trouble and he helped with whatever he could. Today was actually a fairly easy day for closing up, and there was hardly anything that actually needed to be taken care of. The two boys left the arcade area, after Oswald flipped off the power for all of the machines, and headed over towards the direction of the skating rink itself.

“Now we’ve got to go check and make sure that all of the skates in the rental room are in the correct places. Did you return your skates earlier?” As they moved towards the direction of the skate rental room, which was completely on the other side of the rink from the arcade, Oswald skated at a pace that was slow enough for Edward to keep up with as he walked alongside him. When he asked the question, Oswald’s tone held a genuine curiosity, his eyes moving down to momentarily look at Edward’s shoes. It was strange, but he wasn’t entirely sure he’d ever seen Ed in skates. “Or, do you bring your own skates?”

Oswald’s gaze drifted back up to focus on Edward’s face as he finished talking, and he saw that the other boy suddenly seemed nervous. Edward was staring down towards the floor, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he idly studied the neon, space themed pattern on the building’s carpeting. After a few moments of silence, Edward finally looked back up towards Oswald and he caught his eyes before replying, tone just slightly hesitant, “Well… I don’t know how to roller skate.”

“What? You come to the skating rink every week, but you don’t know how to skate?” Oswald stopped moving forwards as he listened to Edward’s claim, and a smile came to his face as he laughed, good-naturedly, before he responded in a mildly amused tone. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary to hear that someone didn’t know how to skate, but Oswald hadn’t really heard of anyone who regularly came to a skating rink without at least trying to learn how to skate.

“Yeah, I guess now that I’ve said it out loud, it does sound kind of questionable.” Edward stopped walking when Oswald did, and when he replied in an amiable tone, a soft grin arose to his own lips. As he waited for Oswald to speak again, he briefly raised one of his hands up so he could sweep his hair away from his forehead, though a few strands immediately fell right back to where they had been as he let his hand fall back down to his side. It didn’t seem to bother him because he didn’t try to fix it again, and Oswald was glad, because he thought it looked charming.

A few long moments of silence stretched between the two boys, with Oswald caught up in his own thoughts, before he realized that he had been staring right at Edward, who was looking right back at him with a slightly perplexed expression. Oswald felt warmth rise to his cheeks and he cleared his throat, trying not to seem too unfocused as he came up with a half-decent reply, “So, every Friday, you come just to watch the derby matches?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Barbara tried to get me to start coming a lot earlier in the season, but I always turned her down.” Edward’s grin widened after he stopped speaking, and after a second longer of apprehension, he continued in a mildly diffident tone, though his expression portrayed that he was obviously amused with himself, “I don’t know which is sillier; that I wouldn’t come to watch my friend’s matches, just because I couldn’t skate, or that I don’t know how to skate, but I keep coming back here every week anyways.”

“Ed, they’re both pretty ridiculous. Why haven’t you ever learned?” Oswald was more attentive about replying quickly this time, and his tone was joking as he teased the other boy. Edward briefly laughed at the response, though after he thought for a few seconds, his expression fell and he frowned for the first time that night. Oswald immediately felt anxious, worried that he had said or done something wrong, and his tone was full of his concern as he asked, “Edward? What’s wrong?”

“It’s… No, it’ll sound stupid. You’ll laugh.” Edward sighed quietly as he replied, and he couldn’t help but to laugh again as he considered what he had been about to say, and a smile returned to his face as he added reassuringly, “Sorry, Oswald, nothing’s wrong.” Oswald instantly felt a wave of relief wash over him with Edward’s change in expression, glad that he wasn’t upset with him, though he knew that there was obviously something bothering Edward.

“Oh, Ed,” His relief was clear in his voice as he paused, before he continued sincerely, “I swear to you, whatever it is, that I won’t laugh.” He couldn’t imagine what made Edward so adverse to learning to skate, considering was usually pretty interested in learning about, or figuring out how to do, anything he could. The fact that he had researched roller derby positions and terms just further proved that he had some interest in skating, so Oswald’s curiosity over what Edward was going to say was peaked.

Edward’s smile widened slightly as Oswald kindly reassured him, but he averted his gaze down towards the floor again as he silently thought to himself for a few seconds. He brought his hands together in front of himself so that he could idly twiddle his thumbs, before he eventually cleared his throat and spoke up again, deciding to just get on with it. “I’ve been scared that if I try to learn how to skate, I won’t be any good at it, and that I’d just fall and embarrass myself in front of a bunch of people.”

“Well... What about now? I could teach you how to skate.” Oswald’s reply came almost instantly after he processed what Edward had said, and though he hadn’t thought his words over for very long, he was very sincere about it. Edward’s eyes widened slightly in surprise behind the lenses of his glasses, and he ultimately looked unsure about the offer, so after a few moments, Oswald continued. “There’s no one here but me, and I promise I won’t laugh at you if you do fall. I really don’t think you will, though.”

“Oswald, you really want to try to teach me how to skate?” Edward’s tone was almost incredulous as he asked the question, and his expression matched it fairly consistently. When Oswald nodded his head enthusiastically, confirming that he really did want to help him skate, Edward’s expression lifted and his smile returned to his face. There were a few more seconds of silence between them as Edward thought over the offer again, but he sounded considerably more confident with the situation when he gave his answer. “Okay, yeah, let’s do it.”

“Really? Great! Then let’s go make sure the rental room is organized correctly, and get you a pair of skates to wear.” Oswald’s tone expressed how excited he was that Edward had accepted his on the spot offer. He hadn’t really been sure whether or not the other boy was going to agree to it, with how apprehensive he seemed to be about it, so he was happily surprised. Edward nodded curtly in agreement to his suggestion, and Oswald began to lead the way towards the rental room again.

…

The rental room was just a small, unimpressive room positioned snugly behind a glass counter that was very similar to the prize counter, though this one displayed various different skates, laces, or wheels you could buy. Inside, the skate rental room was filled with rows of sturdy metal shelves, all filled completely with pairs of roller skates and each with a marker indicating what size of skate went on which shelf. The lighting was also much harsher than it was around the rest of the building, with bright white LED light fixtures in the ceiling overhead, successfully illuminating each row of shelves in order to assist in easily identifying the different size markers.

Because of this bright lighting, being in the room for too long usually made Oswald’s head start to hurt, so he was thankful that they were able to finish organizing misplaced skates fairly quickly. When every shelf was filled up and all of the skates were in the correct order, all that they needed to do was locate a pair that would fit Edward, which only took a couple of minutes, including the limited time that it took for Ed to tightly lace them up. Once the skates were on his feet, and after struggling for a few moments, he managed to successfully stand up in them without falling over.

“Do they fit alright?” Oswald stood up with relative ease as he asked the question, having been crouched down beside Edward as he waited for him to tie his skates. He had been working at the rink for around two years, and by now, maneuvering himself around while wearing skates wasn’t any more difficult than it was with normal shoes on. He closely watched Ed, as the taller boy wobbled unsteadily on the roller skates, and after a particularly precarious stumble backwards, he held his arm out for Edward to hold onto for support.

“Yeah, I think so.” Edward only sounded slightly unsure about his answer, and he took a few steps in place, just to make sure that they did fit alright. He still didn’t seem that enthusiastic about skating, but he was also clearly determined to attempt it. Just standing up had been a struggle, and with the way he quivered made it seem like he could be toppled over by moderately stiff a breeze, so when Oswald held out his arm for him, Edward gratefully took it. “Thanks, Oswald.”

Oswald smiled at him as Edward immediately held onto his arm for stability, placing one hand around his wrist and the other higher up towards his elbow. His grip was firm, so that he wouldn’t let go by accident, though not tight enough to be uncomfortable in anyway. After Edward took a few more seconds to test his weight on the skates, and he seemed fairly stable on his own, Oswald eventually decided to ask, “Do you think you’re ready to try skating on the rink?”

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” Edward returned the smile, and he sighed briefly before he responded to the question. His cheerful tone and his content expression lead Oswald to believe that he was partially joking with him, though he could still tell that Edward was nervous as Oswald began to lead him over towards the skating rink. The carpet gave their skates enough traction that they could pretty easily move across it, without Edward feeling too unsteady, but the rink itself was completely smooth. Once they came to one of the three breaks in the short, painted brick wall that went around the side of the rink, which served as exits or entrances onto the floor, Oswald stopped them before they could actually step out onto the rink.

“Alright, stay here for a minute. Don’t worry, I’ll be right back.” Edward let go of his arm as Oswald said this, and he gave him a confused look, but he didn’t question him when Oswald began to skate away. He headed straight towards the DJ booth near the corner of the rink, picking up enough speed so that he could make it there within only a few seconds.

The DJ booth itself was just a very small space at the corner of the rink, closest to the food area, created by four half-walls which came up to just under Oswald’s chest when he was standing. covered in black velvet wallpaper. One of the walls had a gap in it that served as the door, and inside the small room there was a worn-out desk chair, a computer, a microphone system, and a volume mixer sitting on a metal desk. Oswald slipped through the gap in the wall so he could sit down on the edge of the chair, causing it to squeak slightly. He immediately reached for the computer and put one hand on the mouse so he could briefly move it around in circles to wake the computer up. Before he did anything else, he looked up and through the rectangular hole in the wall in front of him, which allowed whoever was working the DJ booth to watch the rink and make sure no one was breaking any rules, so he could see what Edward was doing.

Edward was still standing where Oswald had left him, leaning against the wall around the rink for stability now that Oswald wasn’t standing with him. He had been casually looking around, but when he saw Oswald looking at him, he smiled and quickly raised one of his hands to wave. Oswald waved back enthusiastically, and he quietly laughed to himself before he moved his gaze back to the computer screen. The program the skating rink used to play music was already pulled up, so he was able to easily find what he was looking for, and after a few seconds, he chose a playlist comprised of mainly 80s love songs. Besides most of the songs being fun to skate to, Oswald was also sort of trying to subtly flirt with Edward by choosing the playlist. As soon as the first song began to play out of the speakers around the rink, Oswald stood back up from the chair and he left the booth so he could hurriedly skate back over to Edward.

“There, now that we have music. You get to experience the whole package of skating, but without all of the people around.” The grin that Oswald had been wearing as he approached Edward widened as he explained his actions, laughing lightly for a moment. Before Edward could immediately respond to the statement, Oswald cleared his throat and held out his arm towards him, before asking enthusiastically, “Shall we?”

“My, my—what a gentleman you are, Oswald Cobblepot.” Edward’s tone was purposely flirty, and he returned the grin as he watched Oswald for a few more seconds, before he reached his hand out so that he could hold Oswald’s arm, up towards his elbow. Edward didn’t seem quite as nervous anymore, and he actually seemed sort of eager to attempt actually skating on the rink.

“Of course, Mr. Nygma.” Oswald replied quickly, feigning a fanciful tone. He was the first to step out onto the skating floor, easily able to stand still without any instability, before he gestured for the other boy to join him. There was a short step down to get onto the rink, and Edward wobbled slightly as he moved one foot down and his skate slid forwards a little bit, his grip on Oswald’s arm tightening while he tried to remain as steady as he could. Oswald’s other hand moved out to grab Edward by the shoulder as he stepped fully onto the smooth skating floor, just firm enough to make sure he was supported. “Careful, watch your step, Ed.”

“Sorry, thank you. This isn’t that bad, for some reason I was expecting it to be way more slippery.” Edward let out a shaky breath that he had apparently been holding for a few seconds, as Oswald slowly began to move forwards, pulling Edward along with him. Edward kept his eyes downwards, focused on their skates so that he could both avoid accidentally running his skates into Oswald’s, and so that he could try to mirror any movements that the other boy made.

Their pace was slow and calm, with Oswald leading it all and Edward dutifully following Oswald’s actions while they gradually made their way around the skating rink. Since Edward was pretty much exclusively looking down towards the floor, Oswald took the opportunity to look at the other boy. With all of the various rotating, multicolored lights fixed around the ceiling of the rink, it set a completely different atmosphere than the food area or the arcade. Oswald was immediately captivated by how charming Edward looked, as the rainbow of patterned lights above passed over them and reflected against the lenses of his glasses. In addition to the lights, there were blacklights on the ceiling that made Edward partially glow fantastically as they passed beneath them. After a few more moments, and after they had almost done two full laps around the rink, Edward’s gaze moved up to meet with Oswald’s again, and he gave him a curious, though amused, look.

Oswald felt his cheeks immediately heat up as Edward caught him staring right at him, and he averted his eyes towards the floor for a moment as he tried to come up with something to say or do, without seeming too embarrassed. After a few seconds, he eventually held his left hand over towards Edward, the purple glow stick bracelet that Ed had given him earlier shifting forwards slightly on his wrist with the action, “Here, take my hand.”

Edward smiled softly as he rose one eyebrow skeptically, though he didn’t hesitate to comply to Oswald’s request. He reached his right hand over to firmly take Oswald’s, his own green glow stick bracelet still around his wrist, before he let go of Oswald’s arm. Oswald smiled back at him when he took his hand, and he skated forwards enough until he could skate backwards in front of Edward, with enough room between them so that they wouldn’t accidentally run into each other with their wheels. Edward laughed briefly as he watched Oswald skate backwards, with just as much ease as he had when he was facing forwards, before he commented playfully, “Gosh, you can skate backwards, too? I really been missing out on skating.”

“Yeah, I guess I know a few tricks, but we’ll just focus on making sure you can skate forwards without falling first.” Oswald laughed at the other boy’s joke for a moment, before he replied with his own mildly flirty tease. Now that he was directly facing Edward, Oswald felt like he could more easily stare at Ed without feeling embarrassed about it. Though, looking at him and seeing how Edward smiled so fondly at him, and with how tightly, yet comfortably, they were holding each other’s hand, didn’t do anything to help make Oswald feel any less nervous.

“That’s probably for the best.” Edward agreed with his suggestion easily, his tone casual as he quietly laughed along with Oswald. After a few seconds, a comfortable silence fell over the two of them as they continued to skate around the rink at a leisurely pace. The playlist of music had gone through a few songs now, and the music was loud enough that they could only hear the sound of their skates rolling over the floor whenever a song ended and there were a few seconds of silence throughout the building. Edward’s gaze mostly stayed focused down on his skates, making sure that he was moving his feet correctly, while Oswald lead him forwards, watching him contently. After another couple of songs had played and they had successfully done a few more laps around the rink, Edward looked back up and caught Oswald’s eyes, with a daring grin on his face as he spoke. “I think I should try staying balanced on my own.”

“Alright, if you’re ready. I think you can do it, Ed.” Oswald thought about Edward’s words for a moment, before he finally agreed supportively. Edward hadn’t really stumbled since they had began skating, and he seemed fairly confident with his abilities at the moment, so Oswald felt like he was definitely making progress. After a few more seconds of skating with their hands held together, Oswald loosened his grip enough for Edward to let go.

As soon as he completely let go of Oswald’s hand, Edward wobbled on his skates. The sudden change in stability, now that Oswald wasn’t actively pulling him forwards, seemingly caught the other boy off guard, and both of his arms flew out at his sides so that he could try to correct his balance. At this point, he was just rolling forwards from the momentum that he already had, and it helped him keep his balance. However, once he tried to move forwards on his own, things quickly began to go down hill, and he stumbled forwards, before he tried to correct himself by angling himself backwards. Unfortunately, Edward went too far backwards, and he completely lost his balance. “Oh, dear—” Edward exclaimed, mostly to himself, as his arms flailed at his sides, until he fell back onto his butt, “Ow.”

Oswald had tried to reach forwards in order to grab Edward when he had began to fall back, but he was too far away, and Oswald instead hastily skated over to him, dropping down to his knees and sliding the last few inches, until he was sitting right beside the other boy. Without really thinking about it, he reached his hand out to rest on Edward’s shoulder as he asked, tone clear with worry, “Ed, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I think fine. Are you?” Edward’s tone was momentarily strained as he got over the initial ache of falling, and he had thankfully been able to partially break his fall with his hands, so he would only be a little bit sore for a while, and it was made apparent that he was more concerned for Oswald’s well-being by the inflection in his voice. As he spoke, he moved his hand out so he could gently touch Oswald’s leg, right above the knee, “Did you hurt your knees?”

The tender touch managed to momentarily catch Oswald off-guard, his eyes immediately looking down at Edward’s hand for a few seconds as he tried to stay focused, and come up with his response. Eventually, he looked back up at the other boy’s face again before he responded, “No, I’ll be alright. Would you like me to help you up?”

“Hm… No, let’s sit here for a while. We can take a break and talk.” Edward thought about the offer for a few seconds, before he refused the offer and proposed his own. Oswald curtly nodded his head in a silent reply, and he hesitantly removed his hand from the other boy’s shoulder before he shifted in place, so that he was sitting more comfortably on the ground, with his legs outstretched in front of him. Edward followed his actions and took a moment to get more comfortable, crossing his legs and letting his hands rest in between them, his legs’ positioning sort of awkward because of the bulky, unfamiliar roller skates he was wearing.

“I’m sorry I let you fall down.” Oswald took the opportunity to talk again before Edward could say anything else, eager to get his brief apology out. He knew that it was sort of trivial, and that Edward probably hadn’t been expecting him to keep it, but Oswald had still claimed that he would not let him fall in the first place. While he waited for Ed’s response, he moved his hands back so that he could lean back slightly and look up towards the light fixtures above them. They were sitting almost right under the disco ball, and he idly watched the mirrors reflect all of the different colors.

“You don’t have to apologize, I just got cocky. Besides, you fell too, Oswald.” Edward was quick to reply, smiling softly as he spoke, his tone growing slightly lighter towards the end of his statement. He was quiet for a few seconds, looking over at Oswald and presumably thinking, before he added, in a genuine tone of voice, “Thank you, again, for trying to teach me how to skate.”

“Of course, thank you for choosing to stay here and keep me company while I closed.” Oswald replied sincerely, returning the thank-you in a happy tone. Tonight had been one of the most exciting nights Oswald had ever experienced while working at the skating rink, and he had really enjoyed spending the night with Edward. “I really like you, Ed,” He had said it without truly considering his words, and as he suddenly realized what he’d said, he looked away from the ceiling and right at Edward as he sat up straighter so he could try to correct himself, stuttering, “Wait, I mean—I really like hanging out with you.”

Oswald felt immediately embarrassed about saying that, his face already feeling hot and his hands clammy as he tried to gauge Edward’s reaction to the slip up. He had been too focused on the lights above them, and the words had left his mouth before he could even process what he was saying. He expected a number of reactions from the other boy—Anger, confusion, disgust, any sort of response that would lead to rejection and awkward heartbreak—But after a few seconds of silence, the blank, slightly shocked expression on Edward’s face quickly disappeared as his lips pulled into a grin, before he slowly replied, “I cannot be bought, but I can be stolen with one glance. I'm worthless to one but priceless to two.”

Another few, short moments of silence fell between them as Oswald stared at Edward, his brows pulled together and his mouth slightly agape as he tried to process what he had said. It definitely hadn’t been anything Oswald was anticipating, and he stammered for a second, before he swallowed and asked, “Is that a riddle? I don’t think this is a very good time—” 

“I really like you too, Oswald.” Edward quickly interrupted Oswald so that he could reword his response to the other boy’s accidental confession in a more obvious way. His smile remained as he spoke, and the happiness expressed itself in his voice with how upbeat his tone was, though there was an edge of nervousness that seemed to hang onto each word.

“You—What?” Oswald quickly asked the question, surprise clear in his wide-eyed expression, before he fell silent again, made momentarily speechless by Edward’s claim. When he finally managed to speak up again, his voice was unintentionally quiet, and his sentence trailed off vaguely towards the end as he avoided explicitly stating his inquiry, “You mean like…?”

“Yes, I mean like… I really like you, Oswald.” Edward paused as he positively confirmed Oswald’s intended question, and laughed nervously. He rocked slightly from side-to-side for a few seconds, his eyes averted down towards his lap, as he thought about what to say next, until he looked back up at the other boy, who had been waiting silently for more clarification, and he continued, “While it’s true, I did start coming here because I wanted to support Barbara’s interests, the main reason that I continued to come after the first match, was so I could see you again.”

“Really? Not that I’m complaining, but why did you wait to tell me this until now?” Oswald listened closely to everything Edward said, still sort of getting over his initial shock that Edward returned his feelings for him. It was so surreal that he had fallen for someone so hard, and it was even more unexpected that his interest actually liked him back. It was very rare that Oswald had ever developed a crush on anyone, and none of them had ever been as present and lasting as Edward.

“Well, I was still trying to figure out what my feelings meant… And, I thought that this is sort of a romantic setting.” Edward seemed sort of sheepish as he further explained his decisions, and as he spoke he moved his hands out of his lap so that he could idly play with the laces of his skates. As he finished his statement, he momentarily raised one hand in order to gesture at all of the pretty lights around them, and probably referring to the love songs playing from the speakers. He didn’t leave a very long pause in his words before he continued to talk, sort of rambling at this point, “After I talked to Barbara about it, and she told me that you liked me back—”

“Barbara told you that I liked you? How did she find out?” Oswald didn’t even hesitate to interrupt Edward immediately as he revealed the information. His expression and tone of voice made his shock clear as it returned to him, though this time it held a more defensive edge to it than one of nervousness. He had no idea how Barbara would have gained a confident confirmation that Oswald liked Ed, considering he had resisted telling anyone, even Ivy, about the crush.

“Oh, whoops. I didn’t really mean to mention that.” Edward smirked as he responded to Oswald’s questions, laughing lightly to himself. His tone and expression gave the impression that Edward was more amused that he had accidentally divulged the information than he was regretful of it, and Oswald instantly found the attitude endearing. “No one told her or anything, she just sort of figured it out, I guess. That’s how she found out I liked you in the first place—She just figured it out because of how I talked about you.”

Once Edward had finished explaining for Barbara, another quiet fell over the two boys, and the music filled up the air around them. Barbara was definitely a smart girl, and that was made obvious in most of her actions and every time she engaged in conversations, though Oswald hadn’t expected her to so easily pick up on his feelings for Edward. Still, he wasn’t upset with her, considering everything had seemingly turned out alright, and he decided that there wasn’t anything more that needed to be said concerning her. After a few more seconds of quiet, and Oswald idly looking at Edward while listening to one of the poppy 80s songs playing, he spoke up again to break the silence and voice a few of the nagging thoughts that were hanging in the forefront of his mind, “Alright… Well, what now? What are we now, what do we do if we aren’t ‘just friends’ anymore?”

“I don’t know.” Edward replied quickly, and his tone portrayed that he was actually entertained by his own lack of an idea for what to do now. He was very rarely at a loss when it came to plans or answers, always managing to come up with some sort of response, but for once he had nothing insightful to suggest. Eventually, he grinned at Oswald and continued, his voice soft, “I guess we just do whatever we want.”

“Do you think you can figure out what I really want to do right now, Ed?” Oswald felt slightly more daring as he playfully flirted with Edward, his tone soft and mildly suggestive. While he asked the question, he shifted his sitting position so that he was slightly closer to the other boy, looking up at him as he waited for a reaction. Now that he wasn’t in complete shock that Edward liked him back anymore, and he could actually calmly think about the situation, he felt a lot more comfortable with being more bold with his statements.

“Is that supposed to be a riddle, Oswald?” Edward’s tone was also sort of hushed, and there was clear amusement in his voice as he responded, and his smile remained on his lips, though it was more of a smirk now. It was clear that Edward had caught onto what Oswald had been implying with his vague suggestion, because after a few seconds, Edward had shifted closer to Oswald enough so that their legs were touching, and he slowly leaned into the other boy. Without much hesitation, Oswald moved his hand out so he could hold onto the sleeve of Edward’s sweater, and Edward’s hand moved up so that he could gently hold the side of Oswald’s jaw, before their lips finally met.

This was Oswald’s first romantic kiss, and while he hadn’t been expecting anything extraordinary or fantastic, it was still wonderful and it didn’t fail to make Oswald’s chest feel noticeably tighter. The kiss was soft and gentle, and mostly just a simple closed mouth peck on the lips at first, sort of as if they were just testing things out. After a moment, however, the kiss deepened, and while the pace remained slow and experimental, Oswald could feel his heartbeat quicken considerably, and he felt his face flush warmly with each passing second. Eventually, they broke the kiss and pulled away enough to look at each other, both of their faces reddened and smiling.

“If so, we’re definitely going to have to work on your riddles.” Edward’s hand slowly fell from Oswald’s face after a few brief seconds of silence, and he was the first to speak again, after licking his lips quickly, his tone playfully joking. He seemed mildly breathless after the kiss, and his voice was just slightly lighter.

As soon as Oswald had processed what Edward meant, his grin widened and he laughed at the joke, nodding his head a few times. He was still so filled with joy that Edward actually liked him back, and while he knew that all of this was reality, the kiss and light joking had definitively solidified the experience for him. He wasn’t sure what this meant for them, but the grin on Edward’s face made Oswald positive that he wanted this to be something serious for them and he smiled as he replied, “Good. That means we’ll have something more to talk about the next time we do this.”


End file.
